Vinicius will pinch himself several times to make sure he is awake, that that video game footballer control is not part of the dream of a child who dribbles shadows like a briefcase makes moons.
No. That control, the goal and another are part of the day he became a man with the Madrid shirt, because of the work and because of his importance, in the first leg of a Champions quarter against a colossus,
Klopp's
Liverpool
and
Salah
, on a night when there were 19 European Cups on the grass.
Dreaming of one of them is free.
Better awake.
What Vinicius finished began in
Toni Kroos
, the first link.
The German raised the periscope.
Fire the one!
The ball came out with the precision of a projectile, perfectly calibrated and measured to meet the Brazilian's career.
Vinicius was right in what always hurts.
Fire the two!
This time the trajectory was intercepted by Liverpool's anti-aircraft guns, but by its worst element,
Alexander-Arnold
.
The defender involuntarily yielded to
Asensio
, whose completion, a hat above Alisson, in no way detracted from Vinicius' control and goal.
In just over half an hour, Liverpool traveled with two tracks that would alleviate Salah's isolated goal with his mind set on the return at Anfield, but without Vinicius having said his last word.
It is the word dream.
The two goals with which Madrid went to rest say a lot about the development of the game.
In particular, Madrid's success in interpreting where the Achilles heel of Klopp's team was.
Everyone knew it was his defense, where casualties accumulated, but you had to know how to attack it.
Given that the German coach changed the pieces but not the dynamics, the formula was to look for the back of his wings and centrals when the line was advanced.
For that no one like Kroos, for the combination of his peripheral vision and the precision of his foot.
He acted like a true quarterback in search of the best possible 'running back': Vinicius.
The Brazilian also had the fortune of finding the worst Liverpool player in front of him, at least in Valdebebas.
Alexander-Arnold is a good player in offensive progression, but he is diluted in the pure defense role.
The mistake in Madrid's second goal was really rude.
For Vinicius, the first of many was, finally, one of those round actions that justify what is expected of the Brazilian.
It was because of the execution, with a control oriented with the chest in the race that is 'hors catégorie'.
The second had the courage to put the tie in luck.
Anfield is not the same without an audience.
Klopp's despair
The presence of the Brazilian among the headlines, along with
Benzema
and Asensio, was already a declaration of intent on the part of Zidane.
Despite the absence of Sergio Ramos and Varane, due to a positive for Covid, he decided on a 4-3-3, without the alternative of the three centrals.
Nacho was joined by
Militao
in the center of the area.
He did not want to speculate, but to attack, and that is what Madrid did from the first minute.
There was the second of his good readings, because he snatched Liverpool's hallmark: a very high pace of play.
If anyone had it from the beginning, it was Zidane's team, dynamic, fast and precise in circulation, and with greater anticipation in the duels.
The two-goal lead before the break was the consequence, to Klopp's despair, who minutes before retiring to the locker room he signaled Keita with a substitution.
Thiago
entered the scene
.
Liverpool, despite the high pressure exerted, had not been able to compromise
Courtois
once
in the entire first half.
Sané
was desperate and Salah was not able to control the ball.
Either he changed drastically or he succumbed before the turn in Anfiled.
Klopp should have been clear in the booth.
The first mistake that Madrid had, perhaps confident in their income, allowed the first against Liverpool, resolved by Salah after a shot from Jota that bounced off Modric and found the Egyptian in front of the goal.
Away from home, a goal is a treasure.
The crash was no longer the same, with a more active Liverpool and a less comfortable Madrid, but no less ambitious.
Those of ZZ were prepared to the against.
Asensio was able to give the third to Vinicius, but the last defender interrupted him.
The Brazilian, however, was anointed and everything that previously meant a world to him was easy, ethereal, like the blow with which his dream is, today the dream of Madrid.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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